Combined flywheel and suction fan



R. W. BARTON COMBINED FLYWHEEL AND SUCTION FAN Filed Mar. 50, 1922 QZQ.

2 sheets-sheet 1 Apr: m 1923.

R. W. BARTON COMBINED FLYWHEELAND SUCTION FAN Filed Mar. 50, 1922 2 sheets-sheet 2 w w W Patented Apr. lifl, 1923 intranet Parana @FFHCE;

ROBERT W. BARTON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

COMBINED FLYWHEEL AND SUCTION FAN.

Application filed March 30, 1922. Serial No. 548,265.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, ROBERT TV. BARTOX, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Combined Flywheels and Suction Fans, of which the following is a specification.

4 My invention relates to improvements in suction blowers and has special reference to a suction blower combined with a fly wheel for an internal combustion engine.

The object of my invention is to simplify and cheapen the construction of a combined suction blower and fly wheel; to provide a device of this character of the multiblade type and so constructed that the mutiphcity of small blades can be easily and quickly assembled with the main body of the wheel and when once fixed in position shall be positively and rigidly locked therein.

A feature of importance in my lnvention is that I provide a one piece fly wheel having a hub and two opposed disks, rings or cheeks rigidly joined together and presenting an annular opening between them at their outer edges. I arrange sheet metal pre-formed propeller blades in this opening between the rings and T have pro.- vided a very inexpensive, simple and effective manner of assembling these blades with the fly wheel proper and in which assembly the plates are positively and rigidly locked and held in position. Furthermore, if any plate should accidentally become bent or otherwise distorted, it can, by the use of simple suitable tools, be readily and easily removed and a new blade inserted and secured in position. I

My invention will be more readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawings forming part of this speclfication, and in which a Figure 1 is a fragmentary sectional view illustrating a combined fly wheel and suction fan constructed in accordance with my invention and shown inoperative relation to an internal combustion engine;

Figure 2 is a plan view of one of the blades as it appears when ready to be inserted into the fly wheel;

Figure 3 is an end view of one of the blades as shown in Figure 2, the holding projections being shown bent'outwardly in dotted lines;

Figure 4 is a sectional view on the line 4-'4 of Figure 1 showing an inner elevation 1 of the wheel, a portion of the rim being broken away to best illustrate the invention;

.Figure 5 is a fragmentary circular seclilOgfll view on the line 5--5 of Figure 4; an

Figure 6 is a fragmentary sectional View on the line 6'6 of Figure 5.

The combined fly wheel and suction fan of my invention consists of a wheel 1 having a hub 2 adapting it to be mounted upon and secured to a shaft 3 and provided at its circumference with two rings 4 and 5 of equal diameter and spaced apart providing an outlet space between them, the ring 4 being at the outer side of the wheel and the ring 5 at its inner side. The ring 4 is joined to the hub 2 by an imperforateweb 6 which is curved inwardly toward the hub and joins the hub on a tangent as shown at 7. The ring 5 is joined to the web 6 by a number of thin radial arms 8. The outer side or face of the wheel is closed by the web 6 and the inner side or face is open between the ring 5 and the hub.

The device is particularly adapted to be used as a fly wheel for an internal combustron engine and I have shown it in connection with such an engine 9. The base of the engine has an air chamber 10 therein communicating with an air circulating system for cooling the engine. The shaft 3 is mounted in a suitable bearing member 11 arranged in the center of a large circular opening 12 in the adjacent side of the base of the engine. This opening is concentric with the shaft 3 and of substantially the same diameter as the opening 13 in the adjacent side or face of the fly wheel definedby the ring 5.

To cause the air to be drawn out of the base of the engine when the fly wheel is rotating, I provide blades 14 made ofthin sheet metal and arranged between adjacent faces of the two rings 4 and 5, in other words, I construct a simple form of multiblade fan by adding these blades to the fly wheel.-

The blades 14 are pressed or formed out of relatively thin sheet metal, each having a, middle active part 15 which is slightly wider than the radial depth of the inner or opposedfaces of the rings 4 and 5 and of a length to fit snugly between said opposed faces of these rings.

For mounting and holding these plates in flanges to present on each blade a slightly convex surface 18 to the air when in use as best shown in Figure 4, the wheel rotating in the direction of the arrow on Figure 4c. This grooving or dishing of the blade not only forms the convex surface mentioned but greatly stiflens the blades and prevents their easy accidental removal once they have been properly assembled with the fly wheel.

Preparatory to assembling the bladeswith the wheel which can readily be done by sliding the blades into the grooves 16, I cut or slit the end flanges 17 to provide bendable tongues or projections for locking the blades in their assembled positions.

As bestshown in Figure 2, I first slit or out the end flanges 17 centrallyfrom their outer ends as shown at 19. These cuts extend longitudinally of the blades and just through the end flanges 17. Then I make a cut 20 transversely of the blade at the base of each cut 19. These latter cuts do ,not extend to the lateral edges of the blade but terminate within it in each instance about midway between the center and the edge, thus providing two oppositely disposed inwardly extending bendable projections or tongues 21. To facilitate the slitting desired and the bending of the tongues to be described, I preferably first punch small holes 22 at the inner end of each of the cuts 19 and also other holes 23 at the ends of the cuts 20. Preparatory to assembling the blades with the wheel I provide the opposed faces of the two rings 4 and 5 with central circumferential grooves 24 in position so that when the blades are properly positioned in the saw cuts 16, the longitudinal slits 19 in the end flanges of the blades shall be positioned midway between the sides 25 of the grooves 24. In assembling the blades in the wheel, I slide each blade inwardly from the outer periphery of the wheel, the two flanges 17 of the blades entering oppositely disposed grooves 16 in the two rings 4 and 5.

After the blade has been positioned as described, I then look it in I position by bending the bendable projections 21 substantially at right angles to the plane of the blade and preferably so that they will contact with the side faces 25 of the grooves 24:. Such bending of these projections is readily accomphshed by a suitable tool in the form of a punch or drift in a manner to be readily comprehended by one skilled in the art. It will now be evident-that the blades once being secured in the manner described cannot readily accidently be removed.- Further erably curve the inner ends 27 of the arms toward the middle of the hub 2 to permit the ready entrance of the air into the interior of the wheel from the engine. The curved web 6 provides an air passage through'the.

wheel changing from a. longitudinal passage at the entrance side of the wheel to a radial passage at the rim of the wheel in such a manner as to cause the expelling of the air with a minimum of efl'ort.

It is to be noted that the combined fly wheel and suction fan of my invention is a very simple and easily made devise consisting of the one piece wheel member and the plurality of identical blades.

Furthermore as the blades can be very rapidly and cheaplyvinserted, the device can be built at a relatively low cost and as the wheel and the blades are all symmetrically arranged, the wheel is readily produced in a substantially perfect balanced condition.

As many modifications of my invention will readily suggest themselves to one skilled in the art, I do not limit or confine my invention to the specific details of construction or to thespecific combinations of devices and parts herein shown and described.

I claim:

1. In a device of the kind described, two opposed peripheral rings of equal diameter and separated axially, expelling blades made of thin sheet metal and longer than the space between the rings, the -rings having regis tering narrow transverse grooves for receiving the ends of the blades, the opposed faces of the rings provided with circumferential grooves, the middle portions of the blades dished radially for stiffening the blades, and the ends of the blades pre-formed with bendable projections adapted 'to be formed into said grooves after the blades have been arranged in position, to engage the sides of the grooves, as and for thepurpose specified.-

2. In a device of the kind described, an

integral wheel having opposed peripheral rings, a plurality of thin blades for arrangement between the rings and longer than the spacing thereof, the rings having registering saw cuts for receiving the ends of the blades,

theblades dished transversely between their ends and having flat end portions, and the rings provided with circumferential grooves in their opposed faces, the blades having theirends cut on longitudinal centrally disposed lines and on transverse lines at the inner ends of the longitudinal cuts to provide on each end of each blade two opposed bendable tongues, these tongues adapted to be formed into contact with the sides of the grooves in the rings after the blades have been assembled with the wheel, as and for the purpose specified. r

3. In a device of the kind described, two opposed peripheral rings of equal diameter and separated axially, expellin blades made of thin sheet metal and longer t an the space between the rings, the rings having registering narrow transverse grooves for receiving the: ends of the blades, the opposed faces of the rings provide-d With circumferential grooves, and the ends of the blades pre-formed with bendable projections adapted to be formed into said grooves afterthe blades have been arranged in position, to

engage the sides of the'grooves, as and for the purpose specified.

4:. In a device of thekind described, an

integral wheel having opposed peripheral trally disposed lines and on transverse lines at the inner ends of the longitudinal cuts to provide on each end of each blade two opposed bendable tongues, these tongues adapted to be formed into contact With the sides of the grooves in the rings after the blades have been assembled With the Wheel, as and for the purpose specified.

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, this 21st day of March,'l922.

RQBERT W. BARTUN. 

